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Do your part not to burn community bridges via bogus social media posts

Times Editorial Board
Published 2:09 p.m. CT Aug. 4, 2018

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The Times Editorial Board notes that passing along social media posts that are false creates a range of problems, many of which cannot be corrected.(Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com)Buy Photo

Last weekend local social media was lit up by a Facebook post made July 27 describing a foiled abduction attempt at a St. Cloud Walgreens.

The post tells of an incident where a woman, a friend of the post’s author, fought off an attacker attempting to push her into her car. The assailant was said to have been chased off by a bystander that pulled up.

The post’s author goes on to promote potential self-defense options and describes the ethnicity of both the assailant and the people in the store — Somali.

The problem? According to a St. Cloud police investigation, it never happened.

This story echoes another local social media incident in December 2015.

In that post, the author, posting a second-hand story, described a friend-of-a-friend’s run in at a St. Cloud Wal-Mart with a Somali cashier who refused the friend-of-a-friend service because she was wearing a cross necklace.

A Times fact-check of that incident determined “there seems to be no evidence that the incident actually happened,” with a Wal-Mart spokesman stating “we’ve been unable to verify that this happened at all.”

In both cases the original posters removed the posts, but not before they were shared across other pages and avenues of social media.

A media release Wednesday from St. Cloud Assistant Chief Jeff Oxton addressing the Walgreens posting describes the actions of authorities to investigate, eventually determining:

“Upon contacting the author of the original Facebook post, and then contacting the alleged victim in the incident it was learned that the attempted abduction never occurred.”

These types of releases are generally a cut-and-dry statement of the facts, but Oxton spends another three paragraphs addressing the power of social media in spreading stories, or in this case “fear, anxiety, and an incredibly dangerous false narrative.”

One mea culpa from a local outlet in sharing the Walgreens story mentions that while not true, “it doesn't mean it isn't a possibility.”

This ignores the ramifications that such a post can have, especially when it involves race and ethnicity — never mind the possibility people who saw the original posts might never see the follow-ups.

Social media has given us unparalleled ability to share our stories, whatever they encompass — successes, compassion, anger, pleas for justice.

Central Minnesota is not a utopia, and it’s reasonable that people would want to share injustices with their circles. But in the rush for justice, we should strive not to create possible injustice.

It’s not enough that these stories could be true, not when social media wields such power. Furthermore, it erodes trust in the truthful posts made by those trying to share their own stories.

Oxton’s remarks should be in a disclaimer paragraph ahead of the “submit” button on all social media services:

“Social media can be a powerful tool in getting important information out to the public and is being utilized by law enforcement agencies across the country to alert the public about incidents that impact public safety. Unfortunately, when false narratives are spread about specific incidents, that same social media effect can be negative and can have potentially irreversible consequences.”